500 public projects in Kenya grind to a halt as non-payment to contractors rules the day shattering trust in Kenya’s planning and public spending decisions

IMF has disclosed that half of the 1,000 public projects being implemented in Kenya have stalled and will require a staggering Sh1 trillion to complete.
So bad is the situation, that cash circulating outside banks in September last year dropped to Sh176.9 billion — the lowest since September 2015.
The huge number of stalled projects has resulted in massive job losses and less money in Kenyans’s pockets.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has casted doubt on Kenya’s planning and public spending decisions, shattering trust on the country's ability to stand on its two feet.

IMF has disclosed that half of the 1,000 public projects being implemented in Kenya have stalled and will require a staggering Sh1 trillion to complete.

“The number of stalled projects is increasing, and is currently estimated at approximately 500 (half of all ongoing projects), because of non-payment to contractors, insufficient allocation of funds to projects, and litigation cases in court,” the IMF said in a fiscal transparency evaluation update on Kenya released on Wednesday, but which was finalised in August 2019.

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The huge number of stalled projects, which comes with delayed payments to contractors, has since become one of the major contributor to the cash crunch currently bedeviling the Kenyan private sector that has resulted in massive job losses and less money in people’s pockets

So bad is the situation, that cash circulating outside banks in September last year dropped to Sh176.9 billion — the lowest since September 2015, according to Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) data.

“Expenditure estimated at Sh1 trillion (12 percent of GDP) is required to finalise these projects,” IMF further says.

“The rapid increase in public investment since 2010 occurred without enough screening for project viability and readiness before they entered the budget”.